HTC ThunderBolt vs. Motorola DROID X2 Comparison

The HTC ThunderBolt was the first 4G phone for Verizon Wireless and the carrier now has three 4G phones, with more to follow. However, there’s still life left in Verizon’s 3G CDMA network and there are new phones for it as well. One of the most recent is the Motorola DROID X2, which is an update to last year’s popular DROID X. The ThunderBolt is powerful and offers a large (4.3-inch) display. So how does it compare the the DROID X2, which also has a 4.3-inch display?

This might seem to be an unfair comparison, since the ThunderBolt connects to Verizon’s 4G network and the DROID X2 is a 3G phone. However, much of the country doesn’t have access to Verizon’s 4G network, and the ThunderBolt is a 3G phone where ever 4G is not available. And for a 3G phone, the Motorola DROID X2 has a heckuva lot going for it, including display resolution of 540 x 960 pixels and a speedy dual-core processor. The HTC ThunderBolt came out of the gate charging hard but the Motorola DROID X2 also has the power to go the distance.

Motorola DROID X2

HTC ThunderBolt

Wirefly’s Price(as of publish date)

$149.99

$129.99

Carrier

Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless

Operating System

Android 2.2

Android 2.2

Interface

Motorola MotoBlur

HTC Sense

Display

4.3″ LCD, 540 x 960 pixels

4.3″ LCD, 480 x 800 pixels

Data Speed

3G CDMA

4G LTE

WiFi

802.11 b/g/n

802.11 b/g/n

Bluetooth

Bluetooth 2.1

Bluetooth 2.1

GPS

aGPS

aGPS

Mobile Hotspot

Yes – Optional

Yes – Optional

Camera

8-megapixel, LED flash and autofocus

8-megapixel, LED flash and autofocus

Front-facing Camera

No

Yes; 1.3-megapixel

Video Capture

Yes; 720p HD

Yes; 720p HD

Apps

Android Market

Android Market

Music Player

Yes

Yes

Adobe Flash Support

Adobe Flash 10.1

Adobe Flash 10.1

Storage Space

8GB onboard; 8GB microSD card pre-installed

8GB onboard; 32 GB microSD pre-installed

Keyboard

Virtual QWERTY

Virtual QWERTY

Battery

1,500 mAh, lithium-ion

1,400 mAh, lithium-ion

Processor

Dual-core 1GHz processor

Single 1GHz processor

Memory

RAM: 512MB

RAM: 768MB

Microsoft Outlook Support

Yes

Yes

View Word Docs

Yes

Yes

Weight

5.5 oz

6.5 oz

Dimensions

5″ x 2.6″ x 0.4″

4.8″ x 2.6″ x 0.5″

Key Differences

Display: The HTC ThunderBolt has a 4.3-inch LCD display rated at 480 x 800 pixels. The Motorola DROID X2 also has a 4.3-inch LCD display, but with resolution of 540 x 960 pixels. This higher resolution is sometimes referred to as “qHD,” meaning it is one-quarter of the full high-definition resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels.

Processor and RAM: The HTC ThunderBolt has a single-core 1GHz processor and 768MHz of processor RAM. The Motorola DROID X2 has a dual-core 1GHz Nvidia Tegra processor and 512MB of RAM.

Keyboard: Both the Motorola DROID X2 and the HTC ThunderBolt have on-screen virtual QWERTY keyboards. Neither has an actual physical keyboard.

Storage Space: The HTC ThunderBolt ships with 8GB of on-board storage and a 32GB pre-installed microSD card. The Motorola DROID X2 ships with 8GB of onboard storage and a pre-installed 8GB microSD card.

Camera: Both the HTC ThunderBolt and the Motorola DROID X2 have 8-megapixel still-image cameras. Both can record HD video at 720p resolution, although an update is promised for the DROID X2 to improve its video resolution to 1080p. The ThunderBolt has a front-facing camera for convenient video chat, while the DROID X2 does not have a front-facing camera.

Battery: The HTC ThunderBolt has a 1,400 mAh battery, while the Motorola DROID X2 has a 1,500 mAh battery.

3 Responses to “HTC ThunderBolt vs. Motorola DROID X2 Comparison”

Although the screen on Dx2 is better it’s not drastic enough to really be used against the t-bolt. Most people don’t watch full HD movies on there phones, so in my opinion the whole screen thing is over rated…as long as the difference isn’t a too dramatic in screen quality. all the smart phone screens now a days can manage well for what most people want. Regarding the battery life, the “just out of the box” standards are not hugely different. Once people start using their phones they slow up. I have had the t-bolt since may and although I can admit the battery life is lesser then a lot of phones its not as dramatic as people are claiming. If they are getting less than 8 hours they aren’t using the phone correctly. Using youtube, surfing the web, playing music, GPS, live wallpapers, etc… Those are extra features and drain the battery significantly.People don’t seem to understand that, and blame the phone when they are doing those things for hours. Also when people don’t go into the settings and force end task that are running, they are waste battery. The t-bolt has a restart phone option to take care of that for you, and in doing so saving battery. Recently an update for the thunderbolt was released that changed many things, but most importantly it saves you more battery. 4G may not be everywhere, but its growing fast. If you entering an area with 4G (visiting family, friends, going to the airport, already in your area etc.)it’s well worth it. There are more features for the T-Bolt and updates to fix the errors. The standard capabilities and features are mention when describing them, but there is always much more unmentioned capabilities once using it for yourself. The DX2 may have a duel core, but the T-bolt has much more ram. T bolt 768 ram. Dx2 512 ram. The phones run almost the same speed with 3g, but again once 4g kicks in no contest. overall the T-bolt is voted better by a majority of users and experts for a reason.

If you dont absolutely have to have 4G or a front facing camera i think the DX2 is the choice. It has a better screen, battery,a dual core processor and the call quality is about the best out there. The only thing i would say the thunderbolt has going for it is the 32gb sd card.